Monday, April 21, 2014

And.....we're back! (For now)

When you can read this post you'll know that the blogging platform the Tribune uses for Change of Subject -- Typepad -- has recovered as least temporarily from the "distributed denial-of-service" hacker attack that has put this blog and many, many others out of commission, at least off and on, since late last last week.

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This has been quite the typepad debacle. The more persistent problem seems to be with the mapped domains-- the redirects from the primary typepad addresses behind the customer sites. I'm able to read and post because I'm using the typepad address for CoS. It's a bit cumbersome and things look a little weird, but I was able to read last night and, obviously, again, today. Hope they resolve this soon. Is it possible that typepad could lose to the cybercriminals?

And I'm curious who's responsible... I've been following the madness on their twitter feed but I'm not savvy enough to "go behind the curtain" like you are... I wonder what their beef with typepad is... Part of me thinks it has to do with EZ :-) (jk obviously...)

It probably isn't a beef with typepad. Most likely it's an extortion attempt. There has been a recent series of DDoS attacks aimed at tech sites with demands for payments to call off the attacks. Evidently, some have paid the ransom which promptly led to increased demands. Based on what I've read, Russian cybercriminals are likely perpetrators. They've got a regulatory environment that is hospitable to this sort of thing.

I agree with Jara's remark. Were there other features offered by the Tribune affected by this? Either way, a notice someplace on the main Tribune website seems like it would have been apropos, especially as hours turned into days.

I also agree with Jara and Jakash. It would have been nice, for instance, if next to EZ's truncated picture in the "All Columns" section, the Trib had posted a note that the links to the columns did not work, and why.

" Instead, I pondered whether Google is a bigger "Evil Empire" than the NSA.

My view: Any company or institution that insists it is not evil--as Google still tries to do--and also has a nearly messianic/utopian view of how the world should work--read some of the deep thoughts Google's main people have about data and privacy and such--means that company is anything but good, whether or not by intent.

I guess I have become way to cynical, but I've read too much history to think otherwise.

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
More about Eric Zorn

Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.